When Worlds Shatter
by Ellekandera
Summary: Brought together by fate, bound together by fate, now torn apart by it. She is thrust from her family, friends, and home and forced into a destiny she did not choose and must it fulfill lest she be the cause of the destruction of those she tries to save. She will meet many, travel with two, love one and be pursued by one who seeks to make her love him. This is the story of Maiko.


My eyes fluttered as I heard a strange noise peck at my ears, trying again and again to awaken me. It tugged at my mind with a tempting whisper, and my thoughts spun in my head as it did. It was trying so hard to get me, but if it wanted me up so badly, it should be louder. I decided to go back to my slumber, feeling the aches and pains in my bones as my body began to wake.

_**Wake up...**_

There it was again, the voice as sweet as a lark's call. But, it would not coax me, I was too tired, too stiff and unable to move to care.

_**Danger is coming...**_

Danger? I doubted that. Probably just a lie to get me up. I thought it was my mother for a moment, this seems like something she would do, but this wasn't her. Mum's voice was light and airier than this, and she would try something far more drastic. No, this was someone else.

_**They are here!**_

A bell boomed in my ears and my eyes shot open, and it was then that I noticed I was not in my room. I was in a looking up at a ceiling so high I could barely make out the pictures painted onto it. It shone lightly, like melted gold on a summer's day, glistening and flowing like an endless river. I traced it through the many loops and turns, and I had to prop myself on my elbows to see as it stretched beyond my gaze.

Then, as I looked beyond what I could see, my eyes glanced towards my legs. And I screamed.

My legs were being covered by tendrils of darkness, slinking up my skin like snakes. They felt ice cold, and as they wound themselves around me, I could feel myself go numb. I conjured up whatever strength I had and kicked them off, and from their surprise they slunk away into the ground, where they rippled into the scarlet, velvety carpet then vanished completely.

My heart was beating in my chest like a drum, pounding on my ribcage like it was trying to escape. Just what was that?

_**You must get up...**_

"Oh, not you again." I growled, putting my head in my hands and letting my silky hair fall through my fingers. This was ridiculous, this had to be some kind of strange dream. But, no matter how much I willed it, no matter how many times I pinched myself, I wouldn't wake up.

_**Get up...**_

"If I get up, will you go away?" I murmured under my breath, and when there was no answer, I sighed. I got up, nonetheless, finding else that I could possibly do, my only hope was to follow this voice's instructions. "Hello, I'm up now. You need something else?"

No answer. My growing frustration now increased by leaps and bounds, and I would sit down again to just piss off whoever was messing with me. But, then I thought about the darkness. If I sat, or stood still too long, they may start to wrap around me again, and maybe this time, I wouldn't escape. My only option was to walk down what seemed to be a long hallway, with hundreds of unique frames stuck on the walls.

I took a step, and the first thing I noticed was another person took a step with me. I snapped my head to my left, and found a perfect replica of myself staring back at me with my own forest green eyes. A mirror? I looked next to the large mirror, and saw another, with my head staring back at me. I looked to the other side of the hall, and found the exact same thing. This hall was full of mirrors, and each was staring back at me, a thousand pairs of my own eyes watching my every move.

I was watching one mirror, shaped into a large bell, when my image changed. I gained new clothes, old and seeming to be stitched together, and my short hair had fabric braided into it. The clothes looked like something out of a fantasy, they looked so strange, but somehow they fitted me well, like they were made for me.

My eyes switched to another mirror, looking like a large tree, and I nearly shrieked. Same eyes, in place of my normal face I had the snout of a brown-haired fox with a strange garb of purple cloth. It was still me, but why was I a freaking fox?

My eyes looked over every mirror, and each image of me changed. In one, I was a mouse, in another I had another weird outfit on, and in one I looked like some sort of lion. This was ridiculous, was this some kind of subconscious warning that I shouldn't like furries? Cause, seriously, this is what it seems to be telling me!

Then, there was this long, human sized mirror, and what I saw was my normal self in my normal clothes with my normal hairdo. But, in my hands was an item I had never seen before, and it looked sort of like a... key. Then, with the blink of an eye, it vanished, and my hands were free.

_**Go to the door, one of light...**_

"Oh, so _now _you're back?" I snapped, finding my anger return in a sudden burst of emotion. But, like last time, it was as if I had never asked or the voice had just ignored me, and I was left with a maddening silence. "Oh, and just so you know, there are no doors in here!"

Then, in front of me, a wooden door took the place of the mirror. It rolled into wood and small designs begin to crawl over it, hardening into dark metal that sparkled like onyx. A dark substance curled into a handle in front of me, and I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, very funny, ha ha. Now will you tell me where this door leads to?" I asked, and waited for a few minutes for any answer. I already knew there would be none. "Yeah, thought not. Jerk."

I reached out my hand, and when I touched the handle, a cold shiver went through my skin. Goosebumps crawled over me like spiders from a nest and I stiffened in place. But, I curled my fingers around the dark handle, and pulled it open.

A wave of darkness washed over me, and I threw my hands over my face to protect myself. I felt it tear at my skin, the cuts form on my arms and legs, the flurries of wind brushing through my hair. I tried to stay put, digging my feet into whatever ground there was left, but the wind had suddenly changed directions. I was forced into the room of darkness, and then the door shut behind me.

The wind came to a brisk stop, an I turned around just in time to see the last of the wood vanish, leaving me alone in the black. I looked around desperately for anything, to find something, even another mirror would do. But I found nothing, nothing but an empty vast of nothingness. And, I was frightened. It was like the darkness had seeped into me, like it was consuming me in doubt and the fear it liked to control mortals with.

And, a break in my mind formed, and a headache of enormous pain banged against my skull. Fire burned in my skin and ice formed on my fingers, spreading and creating a contrast of feeling. I felt a scream erupt from my throat, and it echoed within the space I was in as I fell to my knees, my grip tightening on my scalp.

_**Break free of your bonds...**_

"I-it's not t-that easy!" I spat, and another wave of pain washed through me, coaxing another scream that jumped out of me. I opened my eyes slightly, and saw the tendrils return, and they began to slither around my feet, and I could do nothing to stop it. The pain was too great. "M-m-make it stop! Please!" I begged the voice, but once again, there was no answer. "MAKE IT STOP!"

There was a sudden rumble from beneath me, and I looked down long enough to see cracks begin to form in the ground, light spilling from them. The pain began to recede, but with another strike at my mind, it attempted to return, and the cracks began to fade. I knew that was bad, and I knew, for some reason, I needed the light.

I tried to focus, breaking through the chains the darkness had created, and the cracks thickened. They spread and began to form patterns, shaking the ground and sending out ripples of relief through me. I could have cried for joy when the splitting pain started to leave me, and the tendrils shrank back from the light that was showing, releasing their hold on me. But, it was also then that the floor beneath me shattered.

I was falling, falling into a world of battling dark and light, each forcing themselves onto the other in a desperate attempt to get to me. In the middle was a wall of gray which waved and shook as the two different sides tried to claim it, and that was the one place I wanted to go. I knew it had to be, nothing else seemed to matter right now except getting there.

As I drew towards it, the air rushing past my face like a thousand swords, I reached a single hand out for it. It glowed a faint gray, and it shimmered lightly until it became another mirror, and in that mirror was me. The same me that had been in the mirror that had become the door. The one holding the giant key. The light and dark grew more violent, their attacks growing more constant.

_**Which side will you choose? You must decide or...**_

I was growing closer and closer, and I shut my eyes, waiting for the inevitable impact. My hand then tightened around something. A handle. I slowly opened my eyes, wanting to see what it was...

_**Or the worlds will shatter forever.**_

And then everything was gone.


End file.
